Ep. 58: Boundary Setting and Parenting Your Teen with Signe Darpinian


 

Anna Lutz and Elizabeth Davenport have a conversation with Signe Darpinian, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and Certified Eating Disorder Specialist about the importance of boundaries and trust when it comes to helping our children cultivate a peaceful relationship with food and body. Signe is also the co-author of No Weigh! A Teen’s Guide to Positive Body Image, Food, and Emotional Wisdom as well as the forthcoming book How to Raise Body Positive Teens: A Parent’s Guide to Diet-Free Living, Exercise and Body Image.

They discuss:

  • The juxtaposition between an overall increase in eating disorder awareness, and the increased normalization of disordered eating behaviors that is inherent within diet culture.
  • How boundary setting is generally challenging, but especially when it comes to food.
  • Emotional regulation with teens & pre-teens, and getting consent before giving advice.
  • A control model versus a trust model.
  • How interfering with our teens’ dietary intake breaks down their natural ability to eat intuitively. 
  • When parents make it clear that we trust our children to listen to their bodies it is supportive and creates a sense of safety.

Links: 

Signe Darpinian is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Certified Eating Disorders Specialist, and host of Therapy Rocks! a personal growth podcast. She is also the co-author of No Weigh! A Teen’s Guide to Positive Body Image, Food, and Emotional Wisdom and Raising Body Positive Teens: A Parent’s Guide to Diet-Free Living, Exercise and Body Image, both with Jessica Kingsley Publishers in London, and provides tele-health therapy services in the state of California.